Democratic vice presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris and US Vice President Mike Pence participate in their 2020 vice presidential campaign debate held on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., October 7, 2020. REUTERS/Lucy NicholsonMike Pence vs Kamala Harris Vice Presidential Debate Live updates: Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris are meeting Wednesday night in Salt Lake City, Utah, for their only debate of the campaign. Senator Kamala Harris branded the response to the Covid-19 pandemic under Donald Trump as the “greatest failure” of any US administration. While Harris said the Trump administration has forfeited their right to re-election for their handling of the pandemic, Mike Pence said the president had cancelled travel from China — a decision that helped save many lives. They later discussed China trade wars, the economy, and Trump’s taxes.
Clear partitions dividing Pence and Harris in Wednesday’s vice presidential debate in Salt Lake City are a late addition that serve as a clear reminder that the coronavirus pandemic rages on less than a month before the Nov. 3 election. The two candidates will sit in desks spaced more than 12 feet (3.7 meters) apart, and each desk will have a partition on the side facing the other candidate.
This is for the first time in American history that an Indian origin person took up the podium for a vice presidential debate.
Concerns about the debate have risen after the first presidential debate took place between Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on September 29 in Cleveland, Ohio. US President Donald Trump tested positive for the novel coronavirus soon after the debate.
After last week’s chaotic presidential debate, Biden’s national lead over Trump increased to 14 percentage points, his highest since he entered the race, according to a Wall Street Journal poll.
Democratic vice president nominee Kamala Harris has accused President Donald Trump of "betraying our friends and embracing dictators" as she attacked his "unilateral approach" to his foreign policy that led to America pulling out of the landmark Iran nuclear deal and making the country less safer. "You've got to keep your word to your friends. You've got to be loyal to your friends. People who've stood with you, you've got to stand with them,” Harris said during the 90-minute debate. "Donald Trump has betrayed our friends and has embraced dictators around the world," she said, inviting strong rebuttal from Vice President Mike Pence who said the Trump administration has "stood strong with our allies." “We've strengthened our alliances ... and stood strong against those who would do us harm," Pence said, strongly defending his boss.
There was briefly another participant swooping into Wednesday night's vice presidential debate. For several minutes, a fly landed in Vice President Mike Pence's hair, not moving as he answered questions about racial injustice and whether justice has been done in the death of Breonna Taylor. Conversation about the fly briefly dominated corners of Twitter, where debate watchers discussed their distraction and inability to focus on Pence and California Senator Kamala Harris' answers. Some joked about the need to test the fly for the coronavirus, as it had skirted the plexiglass partitions separating the candidates and moderator. Wednesday night's intruder wasn't the first to take centre stage at an election year debate. In 2016, a fly briefly landed between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's eyes during a town hall-style debate with now-President Donald Trump.
President Donald Trump was apparently watching the vice presidential debate and thought Mike Pence did “GREAT,” but he's not so hot about the Democratic nominee or the moderator's performance. Trump, who is quarantining at the White House as he convalesces from COVID-19, took to Twitter to praise Pence and slam the Democratic vice presidential nominee less than an hour into Wednesday's debate in Salt Lake City. “Mike Pence is doing GREAT! She is a gaffe machine,” Trump chimed in on Twitter. A few minutes later, he huffed that the moderator, USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page, cut Pence off as he was trying to make a point about Harris questioning a judicial nominee about his membership in the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic social organisation. The president offered a link to a National Review article critical of Harris' questioning to highlight the point he said Pence was trying to make.
Describing getting coronavirus that took him to a military hospital for treatment ‘a blessing in disguise’, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday told the countrymen that he will get them same medicine that cured him for free. “I want everybody to be given the same treatment as your president because I feel great. I feel like perfect. So, I think this was a blessing from God that I caught it. This was a blessing in disguise,” Trump said in a video message. Standing at the Rose Garden outside the Oval office, Trump attributed his fast cure to Regeneron drug along with others.
“I will not sit here and be lectured by the vice president on what it means to enforce the laws of our country,” Harris said after Pence spoke about criminal justice reform, noting that she had prosecuted trials ranging from child sexual assault to homicide. Harris, who was formerly the Attorney General of California and a top prosecutor in San Francisco, embraced her record as a prosecutor on Wednesday night, leading Vice President Mike Pence to quickly accuse her for not doing enough on criminal justice reform. (CNN report)
California Sen. Kamala Harris ducked Vice President Mike Pence's question about whether a Biden administration would seek to add seats to the Supreme Court if the Trump administration pushes through the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to replace former Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "Joe and I are very clear: The American people are voting right now. And it should be their decision about who will serve on (the court) ... for a lifetime," she said.
Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris were seated more than 12 feet apart on the podium, with Plexiglas barriers between them. Pence and his aides had objected to the barriers, but relented Tuesday night.
The barriers might make more sense if Pence and Harris were seated more closely together on the podium, scientists said. But the risk in this setting is airborne transmission of the coronavirus, and the barriers will do nothing to protect Harris and moderator Susan Page, Washington bureau chief of USA Today, if Pence were infected. Other experts said the barriers might have made some sense if the debaters were to be seated close together.
The latest question is on the Supreme Court vacancy and the fate of Roe v. Wade. Pence said he "pro-life" and then praised Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. Pence says Democrats attacking Amy Coney Barrett’s faith does not square with the facts. "Incompetent people are being given lifetime appointment to courts during the Trump regime; of the 50 people appointed by Trump, not one is Black," Harris says.
China to be blamed for coronavirus. Joe Biden opposed Donald Trump's decision to cancel all travel from China, says Mike Pence. On China, Harris said that the Trump administration's approach to Beijing has resulted in loss of jobs, lives. "Leaders of our allies say they have more respect for Xi Jinping than for Donald Trump. The vice president earlier said it’s what he thinks as an accomplishment that the President’s trade war with China,” Harris said. “You lost that trade war. You lost it. What ended up happening is because of a so-called trade war with China, America lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs.”
When the moderator asked if voters deserve transparency when it comes to President's health, Harris took a jibe at Trump's taxes. Calling on The New York Times’ reporting on Trump’s tax record, she zeroed in on the $400 million in debt he is believed to owe to unknown business partners or creditors. “Just so everyone is clear when we say in debt, it means you owe money to somebody. It would be really good to know who the president of the United States, the commander-in-chief, owes money to,” Harris said. “Because the American people have a right to know what is influencing the President's decisions. And is he making those decisions on the best interests of the American people, of you, or self-interest?”
In contrast, Biden is more open, Harris said. “Joe has been incredibly transparent, over many, many years. The one thing we all know about Joe, he puts it all out there. He is honest, he's forthright,” she said. “But Donald Trump has been about covering up everything.” (Inputs from CNN)
"The fact that you continue to undermine public confidence in a vaccine, if a vaccine emerges during the Trump Administration, I think is unconscionable,” Pence said. “Senator, I just ask you, stop playing politics with people’s lives.”
“The difference here is President Trump and I trust the American people to make choices in the best interest of their health,” Mike Pence said when asked about flouting of social distancing rules in Rose Garden. Harris shot back: “Let’s talk about respecting the American people. You respect the American people when you tell them the truth.
Harris also said that she would take coronavirus vaccine only after advised by scientific advisors. “If Dr. Fauci, if the doctors tell us that we should take it, I’ll be the first in line to take it. Absolutely,” Harris said. “But if Donald Trump tells us to take it, I’m not taking it.”
"Let's talk about respecting the American people. You respect the American people when you tell them the truth. You respect the American people when you have the courage to be a leader, speaking of those things you may not want people to hear, but they need to hear so they can protect themselves. But this administration stood on information that if you had as a parent or a worker, if you didn't have enough money saved up, you're standing in a food line because of the ineptitude," Harris said. "They've had to sacrifice far too much because of the incompetence of this administration."
"From the very first day, President Trump has put the health of the American people first. President Trump cancelled travel from China, that was the single most important decision that helped save many lives," Mike Pence says
"American people have witnessed the greatest failure of Presidential administration. Over 2 lakh people have died, businesses have closed, millions have applied for unemployment. President and vice president were informed of the pandemic in January, and they did not act. They still don't have any plans to rebuild. We do, Joe Biden does," says Kamala Harris as she opens the debate and talks of coronavirus pandemic.
Moderator Susan Page (of USA today) welcomes everyone to the debate. "We have a small, socially distance audience. We have taken all precautions. Our candidates will be seated 12 feet away," she says
Other reminders that these are not normal times for a vice presidential debate: 20 chairs for guests were spaced roughly 6 feet (1.8 meters) apart in the debate hall, a performing arts center on the University of Utah campus. The auditorium's balcony was filled with university students, donors and other guests, who sat in traditional theater seats, though there were at least two empty seats between guests. Staff took guests' temperatures upon entrance into the hall and asked people to sanitize their hands. Wearing a mask was required. Even the network TV cameras had plexiglass wrapping on the sides and back. A disclaimer on the back of the debate tickets said the ``holder relieves'' the event's organizer, the Commission on Presidential Debates, as well as the debate's ``site host of any and all liability of any kind of character ... including COVID-19.''
The plexiglass caused a stir: Harris' team requested they be used after President Donald Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19 shortly after his first presidential debate against Democrat Joe Biden. Pence's team, meanwhile, insisted they were not medically necessary, an objection that came as Trump returned to the White House. The Trump campaign is trying to move past the virus despite the president's own diagnosis.
The existence of barriers between Harris and Pence, meanwhile, did not extend to the moderator, Susan Page of USA Today. That served as a visual cue from Democrats that sharing the stage with Pence is the primary concern.
Other reminders that these are not normal times for a vice presidential debate: 20 chairs for guests were spaced roughly 6 feet (1.8 meters) apart in the debate hall, a performing arts center on the University of Utah campus. The auditorium's balcony was filled with university students, donors and other guests, who sat in traditional theater seats, though there were at least two empty seats between guests.
The US vice presidential debate on Wednesday night will pitch Kamala Harris, the first woman of color on a major ticket, against a conservative male vice president - and some Americans, especially women, are gearing up to watch the fight. Activist groups, college associations and individuals around the country have organized mostly online 'watch parties' as Harris debates U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who is running with President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election. 'I really can tell that Kamala is ready,' said Rahdiah Barnes, the president of the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications in New York, which pushes for diversity in media, who has organized a non-partisan watch party online. 'This is history. She has something to prove, and I've heard her say a couple of things over the past couple days, so I can know that she's getting ready for war.'
The stage in Utah has been set with all trappings of a modern political debate: Red, white and blue carpets, a backdrop of the Declaration of Independence, and plexiglass, the Associated Press reported.
The clear partitions that will divide Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris in today's vice presidential debate in Salt Lake City are a late addition which serve as a reminder that the coronavirus pandemic rages on less than a month before the Nov 3 election.
The two candidates will sit in desks spaced more than 12 feet (3.7 metres) apart, and each desk will have a partition on the side facing the other candidate.
The partitions caused a stir, with Harris' team requesting they be used after President Donald Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19 shortly after his first presidential debate against Democrat Joe Biden. Meanwhile, Pence's team insisted they were not medically necessary, an objection that came as Trump returned to the White House.